Grin Reapers
by Avarice
Summary: Duo can't seem to have one quiet night out. This is a re-edited older fic of mine, a mild AU/crossover between Gundam Wing and This Is Home. Notes inside explain further. This is one of my favourites I've written.


_A/N: This is something I wrote a number of years ago. It was a crossover between Gundam Wing (starring Duo) and the old vampire universe of This Is Home, written by K. Sandra Fuhr. Now, TiH doesn't exist anymore, but a lot of the characters from TiH formed the basis of the cast of a slightly better-known webcomic called **Boy Meets Boy**. Sound more familiar? :) Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. _

_Anyhow, years ago, the creator (who incidentally got me into GW in the first place) and I were talking about the similarities between Skids in TiH (a happy go lucky vampire hunter who wielded a scythe) and Duo (a-- well, you know who he is if you're here :). The plot for this fic germinated quickly from there._

_You don't have to (and let's face it, you probably don't) know TiH, or even BMB for that matter to read this. You can consider this as a plain GW AU fic.  
_

_On a personal note, I'm really happy with how this one turned out. Some turns of phrase and some lines always bugged me in retrospect about it, but I redrafted it tonight, taking out and changing those little things that annoyed me, and I liked it much better. I thought it deserved a second shot at being read. Hope you'll indulge me!_

_If you have any comments or criticism, I'd love for you to leave a reply. More of my fic and fic recs can be found at **Literary Fabrications**. Thanks in advance for reading!_

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**Grin Reapers - by Avarice**

The odd feeling hit Duo the moment he entered the club.

It wasn't overpowering, though. If anything, quite fleeting. It drifted in and out of his perception, rising above the thrum of the bassy house music that happened to be playing. Never constant, it moved with the throngs of people. Sort of made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.

What was that old expression?

"Like someone was walking over my grave..." he muttered.

"What was that?" The young woman behind the counter asked him. Duo had moved to stand at the bar almost automatically.

"It was an order for a Scotch and Coke," he gave her a healthy dose of Maxwell charm, combined with a half raised brow and twinkling eyes. She responded in a favourable manner, cheeks colouring slightly.

The blond girl placed a glass on top of a small square cardboard coaster and left for parts of the bar unknown, not before shooting him a pretty smile. Duo smirked into his glass, taking an experimental sip. The young braided man traced patterns through the condensation on the cool glass, doing his best to relax.

Being a Preventer was a demanding career path, one that Duo accepted the maximum amount of complaining. Having just completed a long and arduous mission, this was his first free night in literally weeks. Even then, it was stolen time, seeing as he should have actually been filing paperwork at this particular time. But who could file paperwork at nine-thirty on a Saturday night?

Heero, of course. Duo snorted softly. He had offered his partner the chance to thumb their noses at authority and escape the horrors of writing reports. But it was one battle the self-proclaimed God of Death knew he would lose. His Japanese friend just wasn't interested in anything remotely entertaining, it seemed.

Duo sighed. He *_really_* wished someone else had agreed to come with him. There was no point in freedom if he had to enjoy it alone.

He felt movement behind him. Someone brushed past, lightly touching his snake of chestnut locks. That in itself wasn't alarming, but for some reason his skin crawled, and he couldn't help the involuntary shudder. Turning around, Duo attempted to identify the person that had given him goosebumps.

No such luck. He scanned the crowd, but whoever had was amongst the miasma of young people on the dance floor.

Duo shook his head and squeezed his eyes shut. _Unwind, unwind, unwind_, he chanted mentally, leaning his elbows back on the bar. Relaxing didn't mean jumping at shadows. But by the same token... he trusted his instincts, and his gut was telling him there was something not quite right.

"I wish Heero'd agreed to come with," Duo murmured. His fellow pilot had a knack for sussing out things like this. "I s'pose I'll have to figure it out on my own."

"Figure what out, gorgeous?" A voice next to Duo's ear made him jump. He turned to see a girl, maybe a few years older than him, standing with a hand on her shapely hip. She was -- in a word -- stunning.

"Figure out where you've been all my life," he replied smoothly, giving her a rueful grin.

Her laughter sounded like breaking glass. She put her hand on his in the kind of personal gesture he usually adored and it was all Duo could do not to flinch away. He couldn't explain it, but when she touched him it was like being shocked by static, and made bugs crawl under his skin. He tried to shrug off the feeling, but couldn't.

"So," the brunette took a step closer, "looking for some company?"

Duo prided himself on being a good and accurate judge of character, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what was sending his senses into a spin. The violet-eyed youth looked up into his admirer's face and saw...

Nothing.

Eyes windows of the soul? If that adage was true, that woman had none. There was a cold nothing in her eyes that chilled him to the very bone.

This was definitely not someone *_he_* needed to spend the evening with.

"Not really. Enjoying my alone time, y'know?" Duo said coolly, turned away and hunching over the bar, closing off his body language. The girl seemed disappointed, and took a bored look out into the crowd. Obviously someone else caught her eye, because those dead eyes sparked with an inner fire.

"If you change your mind..." she let the offer hang before melting into the cluster of people, finding prey that was actually interested.

His instincts must have been right, because as soon as she left, he felt better. Duo lifted his glass to his lips and let the alcohol burn a trail down his throat.

"Just my luck, first hot girl I meet gives me the creeps... I hope my Duo-dar doesn't need to go in for repairs, a little action wouldn't hurt..."

The long-haired youth turned on his stool and leant back against the bar to observe people around him. By and by he saw his erstwhile companion on the arm of another young man. Duo guessed him to be about the same age as himself, but a few inches taller with a slightly larger, muscular frame. Thick, cinnamon coloured hair fell haphazardly from underneath the backwards baseball cap he wore, and his visible, muscled arm was lightly tanned.

Duo studied his 'competition' intently. There was an odd vibe about that guy, too. It didn't make his skin clammy, like the girl but... there was something. Once, just once, the young man looked up and into his direction, eyes searching... for what? Duo's breath slowed, waiting for them to lock eyes. It never happed, though, and his attention was back to his partner again.

Duo hissed in frustration. The hat-wearer seemed familiar, and yet he knew he had never set eyes on this person before tonight.

The other young man smiled down easily at the girl as they danced, and Duo couldn't help but feel a bit ripped off, even though it was _*he*_ who had rejected _*her*_. Still... even laying eyes on her across the room... the pilot couldn't help the weird feeling she *_still_* exuded.

No-one else seemed to notice, however, least of all her dancing partner. He allowed her to 'accidentally' brush against him when the crowd encroached on their space, and trace patterns along his bicep as they moved. Finally, pushing the hair out of his eyes, he inclined his head towards the door. The brunette responded by latching onto his hand and dragging him through the people.

Duo shrugged, idly thinking he should leave the reading of people's intents to Quatre. It wasn't his business, and wouldn't have given the pair a second thought if he hadn't seen the look on the girl's face before she hustled the other youth out of the club.

But he *_did_* see. And that made it his business, because that guy was walking into trouble. Gut instinct.

Gulping down the rest of his drink, he left a bill on the counter and skirted the dancefloor on the way to the exit as silently as Shinigami itself, all the while examining the mental snapshot he had taken of the girl's face.

The look in her eyes was Death.

*******

The dull thrum of music was slightly stifled as Duo shut the club door behind him. He had followed the young couple out the side door which they had exited. It emptied out into a poorly-lit back alley. Looking from right to left, he tried to gauge which way the pair might've have gone. The left was pitch black, nothing but darkness. The right was illuminated by weak lamps at odd intervals.

Given the zero visibility conditions of the unlit portion of the alley, Duo headed off to the right. He moved easily in the halflight, shifting from shadow to shadow as if he had little more substance than a wraith.

The former pilot of Deathscythe reached into his jacket and ran a hand over Tinkerbell's cool metal. The .40 Smith & Wesson was nestled in a shoulder holster under his right arm, with two extra clips of ammunition under his left.

Tinkerbell, or Tink as he affectionately called it was a classic double-action handgun with a smooth two-tone finish, roughly 7 inches long. He started calling it the fairy character's name after Wufei, in a fit of frustration, called him 'the boy who would never grow up'.

Meant as a derogatory remark, Wufei had been disgusted when Duo embraced Peter Pan's title so eagerly. It didn't help his disposition when the American began boasting of his flying ability, calling his gun 'Tink', and referring to the Chinese Preventer as 'Wendy'.

Duo's head turned when he heard the crash. The noise had travelled through a small corridor that joined his alleyway to the next. Watching his steps carefully, the braided youth entered the adjoining passageway.

Another crash -- this time accompanied by a distinctly human (or was that inhuman?) scream -- made Duo's hand stray to Tink immediately. He arrived at the juncture of the alley just in time to see a body-sized blur fly past his vision and smack noisily into a stack of trash cans.

The fallen figure -- who by all rights should have at *_least_* been unconscious -- howled anger and got up. She raked the hair out of her face with claw-like hands.

It took Duo a moment to recognise this person as the one who had come onto him in the club. Once immaculately coiffed hair was knotted and dirty. The pale blue dress that had hugged her fine curves like a second skin was torn in large places across her body which revealed the skin underneath to be bruising, her blood staining the edges a dirty brown. And her face...

Her face...

Once beautiful features were twisted in rage and malice -- she'd become a grotesque parody of her former self. Probably the most notable feature were her eye teeth, gleaming sharply over her bottom lip.

The fanged mouth opened, and she spat a name like a curse.

"Soul Taker," she hissed sibilantly.

Duo turned to see who she addressed and blinked in mute surprise. Her dance partner stood in the middle of the alley, feet relaxed and apart, casually resting his weight on the pole of a wicked looking six foot scythe. He moved his hand slightly so that the blade swung gently from side to side, reflecting the dim light, and inclined his head towards her in affirmation.

The Preventer quickly appraised the other man's stance and attitude. Whatever was going on, *_he_* knew what it was about.

"At least someone does..." Duo muttered, even though he knew better than to open his mouth.

Big mistake.

Even though he was at least half a dozen metres away, the man's head snapped around, eyes piercing the darkness which shrouded Duo, attempting to locate the source of the voice. That second of distraction was all the monstrous girl needed to take three running steps and launch herself at the armed boy. The force of her body propelled the guy two metres through the air, before smacking him into the concrete at least an arm's length away from his scythe.

The young man -- who went by the name of 'Skids' -- grunted as he hit the ground, air knocked out of his lungs. It was another precious second in which he was vulnerable. The best he could hope for was that the vampire currently screaming her rage didn't take advantage of it. Unfortunately, she did.

Balled fists pounded into his chest with preternatural strength, nails tore through his skin, teeth gnashed close to his face. Skids' face displayed his pain fully, although he refused to be incapacitated by it. Shielding his face as best he could before clasping both hands together and smacking them against the side of her head. It didn't do much, but stopped her beating on him for a moment or so. Long enough for him to get a few good blows to her ribs.

The girl's laughter came out strained. Obviously Skids' counter attack was having some effect. "I always knew you'd like it rough," she wheezed, squeezing his straddled thighs for emphasis. Skids smiled grimly and locked his fists around her forearms. He rocked to his right slightly and gathered momentum before rolling left, switching positions with his assailant, pinning her wrists above her head. He privately enjoyed the surprise that flit across her features.

"You're going a bit too fast for my liking.. can we just hold hands for a while?"

"Don't wanna go all the way, Soul Taker?"

Skids' eyes hardened. He saw the scythe within reach in his peripheral vision, but couldn't reach it without removing a hand from the girl. He also couldn't hold her with only one hand.

Duo trained his gun on the action, brows knitted together in indecisiveness. Over the top of a myriad little concerns, two stuck out in his mind.

One. He had no idea what the fuck was going on.

Two. He didn't have a clear shot.

Narrowing his eyes, Duo's focus darted from girl to guy, attempting to anticipate their next move, knowing full well that these situations -- especially with so many unknown variables -- were hard to predict.

He should know, he'd *_been_* in enough of them.

The Preventer saw Skids' eyes flit from the girl to his weapon, and understood the situation. Given the previously attractive brunette's displayed strength, there wasn't much chance that he could hold her down *_and_* reach the scythe.

Beneath Skids, the vampiress came to the same conclusion as Duo. She practically exuded malice.

"Can't do both, honey. It's me or your little toy." She gestured to the abandoned scythe with no small amount of effort, struggling so the youth bent forward to use more of his strength to keep her down. Gaining slight leverage with her legs at this action, the girl brought her knee up in between Skids' legs with astonishing force.

The Hunter's eyes widened in a manner that would have been comical had his circumstances not been so dire. With a loud pain-filled moan, he completely lost his grip on his attacker. In a blur of movement, the brunette pressed her advantage and had the upper hand once again. She leered down at his face, still twisted in discomfort.

"I can't believe that was all it took!" Her laughter was vicious, cutting. "...brought down in the manner of so many men before him..." She ground down against him, watching with pleasure when he flinched. "So the great and amazing Soul Taker turns out to be just an ordinary man after all..."

"I wouldn't exactly call a man who knows his way around a scythe *_ordinary_*. We tend to be more talented than most."

Duo emerged from the shadows and entered the main alley. He had been wavering as to whether to get involved or not, especially not knowing much of... anything, to be honest. But given the current situation, and knowing he had an unwitting hand in influencing it, a decision had to be made.

Duo hated unfair fights. It was time to even things up a little.

He strolled around, taking shrewd note of the girl's position, how much leverage she had on her prey, and the distances between him, the scythe and the two on the ground, all without actually *looking* like he was.

The girl looked up, annoyance in her twisted features turning vaguely lecherous. "See what you're missing out on, sweetheart?"

"What are you doing here?" Skids' statement caught both girl and Duo by surprise, yet the Preventer was eminently better at disguising it.

"What do you mean 'what am I doing here'?"

"I thought I told you not to get involved," even in his dangerous position, and with multiple injuries, Skids managed to look just mildly irritated.

"You never *_told_* me not to get involved," Duo smiled inwardly, even though his expression was one of feigned hurt. It wasn't a lie, Skids *_had_* never told him not to get involved -- they had never met.

"I can't believe you," he continued his inoffensive walk towards the other side of the alley -- and the scythe. "I've got the big dramatic entrance going for me, the witty parlance, and the whole rescue you from Snaggletooth, and you're fobbing me off?"

"Hey!" the girl pinning Skids interjected angrily, but she was ignored. She looked back and forth from her prey to Duo, confused and furious. Was he another Hunter?

"I didn't ask for your help in the first place," Skids replied tersely, surreptitiously freeing his right arm from the vampire's slackening grip.

"If I had to wait for you to ask me, you never would!" Duo gestured emphatically, circling to Skids' right. The brunette gnashed her teeth, hands shaking in rage, never suspecting the subtle division of focus was costing her her greatest prize.

Skids snorted. "And you wonder *_why_*?" His right shoulder lifted up off the ground, not burdened with weight anymore. He slightly bent his knees into a more comfortable position and looked to Duo. When Duo made his move, Skids would be ready.

He didn't have to wait long.  
Duo looked affronted. "Well.. if that's the way you feel... I don't really feel like doing *_this_*!" Duo's leg extended out, toe going underneath the handle of the scythe. With a sharp flick, he brought the weapon into his outstretched hands.

As soon as Skids saw Duo touched his blade, the Hunter made a move. Focussed on what the long-haired intruder was doing, the girl let her guard down, allowing Skids to actually push her off and scramble to his feet. She howled in rage at being tricked and recovered her footing, but the damage was done.

Duo threw the curved blade to Skids even while the brunette made a last desperate leap towards him. Feet evenly spaced, beloved weapon in his hands, Skids brought it in a large arc around his body. A scream, a sickening slicing noise, and spray of blood later, the headless body of the girl fell in front of him.

In some twisted part of Duo's mind, the question as to what happens when someone is decapitated was answered, and he stored it away for future reference. His body, however, refused to acknowledge anything. He had killed people plenty of times — usually shot them — but that... that was...

Violet eyes wide, Duo watched in grim fascination as the youth looked down at his clothes. His overshirt was relatively fine, having billowed out with the swing, but the wifebeater singlet underneath sported a slash of crimson, not to mention the flecks of blood and clawmarks that had ripped the thin fabric. Skids sighed. It was his favourite shirt/singlet combination.

Duo expected a number of different things to happen once the fight was over, none of which included Skids giving him a big grin while wiping the blood off his scythe onto the clothes of the corpse.

"That was some fight, huh?" he asked goodnaturedly, stretching his limbs and wincing in soreness. Duo could only nod dumbly. "Yeah... I thought she had me for a while... but..." he gestured down to the body, a wry smile on his face.

Skids looked down at his watch, a slight frown knitting his brow. "Damn... I gotta run. Class tomorrow." He shot Duo another bright smile and began to walk away, hoisting the scythe over his left shoulder. "Thanks for your help," he added, partially turning back, before leaving the alley all together.

It was only then, when Skids was totally out of sight, that Duo could bring himself to utter any words over the surreal situation.

"What the *_fuck_* just happened here?!" he yelled at the top of his voice, hands splayed in confusion.

The faintest sounds of movement behind him caused Duo to come to attention instantly, accompanied by that strange chilling sensation from before. The same discomfort that the dead girl had emitted before was back, travelling up his spine three or four times stronger than before. Logic dictated that meant there was more than one sneaking up on him.

Before it sounded like they got too close, Duo spun to his right with an oft practiced ease, reaching into his jacket for Tink. By the time he had spun 180 degrees, his gun was out and pointed at the leader of the group's head, thumb resting on the hammer.

"You shouldn't try to sneak up on someone who's had a tense night," he stated with grim amusement.

The line was received with husky chuckles. Duo assessed the group. There were four males, dressed in casual -- if dark -- street clothes, with attitude to spare.

Not really so out of the ordinary from any other bunch of street hooligans Duo had ever come across or been a part of, except for the pair of gleaming fangs each one sported.

"What do we have here? Has the Soul Taker found a partner?" The leader of the group said, not at all concerned with the gun pointed directly at his forehead. The Preventer studied his target carefully. He had an unruly mop of ash blond hair and deep brown eyes. Straight nose, cruel, thin-lipped mouth twisted in the sort of smile Duo imagined that snakes would sport if they could.

It was obvious to Duo that this scum had waited until the other boy -- that Soul Taker -- had left before making their move. Also a fair assumption that they feared him, and that could possibly work in his favour and discourage them.

Or, it could come up and bite him in the ass.

With few options, he decided to grasp at what he could.

"Soul Taker? Oh yeah, me and him go way back. In diapers together, y'know?" The blond's eyes widened, and Duo sensed panic for a split second. Unfortunately it didn't last. In fact, that cruel smile deepened.

"Friend of the Soul Taker...." the blond rolled the words over his tongue. "Any friend of his is a friend of ours... can we do anything to make you more.." his eyes flicked to his compatriots, "comfortable?"

"I'm a self sufficient guy, don't trouble yourself," Duo replied lightly, gun never wavering.

"Oh, it's no trouble, at all," the leader answered pleasantly, taking one step closer to the ex-Deathscythe pilot. It did not escape Duo's notice that while the blond demanded his eye contact, the other three males fanned out and began circling him ever so slowly. Tink's barrel wavered almost imperceptibly. His 'spider sense' went from background noise to fully-blown buzz.

Witness his plan biting him in the ass.

Their progress was halted when Duo's thumb pulled back Tink's hammer with an audible click. The time for games had ended.

"Something's coming at you at 300 meters per second, now. Go ahead and run. You'll only die tired."

To the Preventer's private dismay, his threat din't seem to be a deterrent. Rather, the gang circled closer because of it, laughing appreciatively. The blond's dark eyes twinkled with malevolent delight, and he took another step closer. Duo's trigger finger twitched.

"I *_like_* you because you mean it," he said through sharp, smiling teeth. "You have the most glorious scent of Death around you... it's intoxicating." That smile turned rotten to the core. "And I want to drink it."

Tink's shot made a short, sharp 'crack'. An expression of mute surprise on his features, the blond staggered back a few steps with hands clutching at his chest, staring at Duo's smoking gun, a telltale whisp of smoke floated from the barrel.

"I stink like Death? Jeez, really?" Duo looked faintly disgusted. "I was going for a manly, musky odour. You know, perspiration and sex appeal and Brut 33." He grinned charmingly, waiting for either the thug's gang members to help him, or for him to keel over dead, neither of which happened.

Duo watched with horrific fascination as the blond coughed and stood upright again. He pulled a hand covered in blood away from his chest, confirming that he had indeed shot him in the chest just to the left of the heart. "Now that kind of hurt," he hissed in an annoyed fashion.

"You're not dead," Duo stated calmly even as his heart sped up a fraction.

"No, you just didn't kill me. There's a difference."

It was then that Duo became aware of the low rumbling that permeated the alley. It sounded like a growl; a pack of dogs or wolves or...

Or four fanged youths advancing steadily on his position, regardless of Tink's threatening presence.

Think fast, Shinigami.

Without warning, Duo dropped into a backwards roll, gaining around a metre and a half on the gang before coming up into a crouch. With both hands clutching his gun in a death grip, the Preventer rapidly fired two more shots at his two closest attackers. He caught one in the upper chest near the shoulder, the other in the ribs. Both bullets slowed, but did not stop them.

Unfortunately, the time taken to attempt to incapacitate two was all the time needed for the third -- a black-haired kid -- to leap onto him. Duo's head hit the ground with a dull thwack. His assailant was strong -- much stronger than he'd anticipated.

"Little long-haired boy can't cut it, eh?" he sneered, backhanding Duo across the face with his fist. Duo reeled at the powerful blow, loosening the grip on his gun in a haze of pain.

The sound of Tink skittering across the cement was what brought the God of Death to his senses. Realising his gun was lost, and that conventional fighting just wouldn't cut it, Duo began snarling and struggling like a wild animal, inflicting as much damage as he possibly could. He scratched, bit and tore at anything he could reach. It seemed to be working, until he was forcibly restrained by the two previous gunshot victims.

The blond stood over Duo as he was held down by the three other youths. What surprised the young man most was that the leader of the gang actually *_smiled_*. Even after having been shot, having his friends shot, he still smiled down at him with some element of fascination.

"What's your name?" he asked. Duo just glared up at him, cheekbone purpling nicely, blood from a split lip running over his chin. The blond shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'll give you a new one after we're done, anyway."

"Blow me," Duo retorted, spitting blood at him.

His laugh was like rolling thunder. "Boy, I am going to *_suck_* *_you_* *_dry_*," he purred. Funnily enough, that offer just wasn't tempting at all. The blond's form was silhouetted in Duo's vision, blocking light from the dim lamps. All he could see was those teeth.. and those eyes. Make no mistake, something bad was going to happen to him. Good people never had sharp teeth like that.

*_People_* never had sharp teeth like that.

Duo made another attempt at escape, struggling fitfully. "Shhhhh.." the brown-eyed youth said almost kindly. "It'll all be over soon, I'll make sure of--"

He stopped mid-sentence, eyes widening significantly.

The blade of a scythe appeared through the centre of his chest, cutting the statement short.

"It will," a familiar calm voice stated.

"Soul Taker..." One of the goons whispered fearfully.

Skids drew his scythe back and flung the body of the blond away. Duo noticed the grip on him had loosened a little.

"Hey!" Duo greeted cheerily. "How're you doing?"

"A lot better than you, it seems," Skids replied, watching Duo's left fist clench.

"Oh, I'm not doing so badly.. as a matter of fact, you came just in time to see me catch second wind!" With that, Duo brought his fist up underneath the chin of the guy holding his left side down. Skids leapt forward and smacked the butt of the scythe into the head of the boy on Duo's right.

The black haired youth looked down at Duo's malicious grin, and glanced up at the Soul Taker's cool confidence. It took him less than a second to jump off the braided pilot and begin bolting. The other two didn't stick around much longer, following their cowardly compatriot.

Duo touched his hand to his lips, wincing. Bruised, bloody, and a terrific headache to boot.

"I swear, next time I have a night off, I'm going to spend it filing reports," Duo moaned as -- after a moment's hesitation -- he gripped Skids' proferred hand. Skids hauled him to his feet and appraised his injuries quickly, before smiling.

"Busy night, huh?" He commented cheerfully.

Raising an eyebrow, Duo flinched when it even hurt to do *_that_*. "You could say that," He realised he was still holding the tanned youth's hand, so he shook it. "Duo Maxwell."

Skids pumped his hand. "Everyone calls me Skids. Skids DiAngelo,"

"Or the Soul Taker?" Duo observed, raising his eyebrow slightly.

At that, Skids' eyes glittered, and the enthusiasm of his handshake faded somewhat. "Or that," he nodded. The sombreness disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Skids released Duo's hand, walking past him. "It's a good thing I came back," he commented.

Duo turned and found Skids crouching on the ground. "Speaking of which, why *_did_* you come back?"

"Forgot my hat." Skids picked up the cap and dusted it absently, before putting it on his head. He picked up something else off the ground. With practiced ease he uncocked Tinkerbell and walked back to Duo, giving the gun back to him, handle first. "Nice piece," he remarked.

"Thanks," Duo replied, opening his jacket and holstering Tink. He then experienced a situation that'd only happened a handful of times in his life -- lost for words. For all the unanswered questions pounding his head, he couldn't seem to bring himself to ask them. Maybe... maybe he should just leave leave them alone.

"I'd better get back to... y'know..." Duo inclined his head.

"Yeah," Skids agreed. He stuck his hand out again and Duo took it without hesitation. Skids gave him a penetrating look -- the same expression in his eyes as before when he was fighting -- before the grin on his face spread to his eyes. "Seeya around!" he said cheerfully, slinging the scythe onto his shoulder once again.

Duo backed up a few steps before turning around to leave.

"Duo?" At the sound of his name, the Preventer turned back. Skids grinned. "Careful on your way home. Some places just aren't safe." With a carefree wave, the one called Soul Taker departed.

Duo snorted. "Aren't safe... there's an understatement," he grumbled. As he turned to go, Duo thought a noise came from the shadowy corridor at the entrance of the alley. The agent's hand was on Tinkerbell instantly, and he froze, waiting.

Silence.

Duo squinted into the darkness, but saw nothing, heard nothing further. Duo shook his head. "Well now you're just getting paranoid, Maxwell," Duo scolded himself. He turned to leave again, but not before muttering under his breath; "Heero is *never* going to believe this..."

It wasn't until Duo's footsteps had completely faded from the alley that there was a faint noise in the alley once again. Dim light danced on long copper hair as a figure stepped out of the corridor. Tapping a finger against his lips, he chuckled in amusement, wry smile curving one corner of his mouth.

He spoke, and his voice was silky, hypnotic. "I *_do_* love it when I find new toys to play with."

Green eyes flicked in the direction that Duo had exited the alley. With a flash of white teeth over pale lips, Tybalt melted back into the darkness.

~finis


End file.
